


The same, somewhere underneath

by theseatheseatheopensea



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseatheseatheopensea/pseuds/theseatheseatheopensea
Summary: Turlough meets the Eighth Doctor. That's all.





	The same, somewhere underneath

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [New year's Genfic festival](https://www.pillowfort.io/posts/149484) over at Pillowfort, using the prompts "late night talks" and "another time, another place".
> 
> Thank you to [arcelian](https://www.pillowfort.io/arcelian) for organising this awesome event. This fic has been in my WIP drafts file for years, but this festival was the kick in the butt that I needed to finish it! Allowing ourselves to write self-indulgent fic is a very important thing! <3

It's late, but he has always found it easier to work at night. It must be the quiet sound of the stars. Or the wind, or the pitch-black sky. The night makes time move in a strange way. It reminds him of space, of everything he has seen.

But right now, he can't work. He can't even think. There is a sound out there that distracts him and makes him look up from his papers. He listens, and he knows. In a minute he is outside, but he doesn't remember how he got there. That isn't important right now, though. He's heard it. He would have known that noise anywhere.

It's been years, but he remembers everything. He said goodbye, but there were too many things that he left unsaid. No, he didn't want to go. Deep down, he doesn't regret it, because there was a part of him that knew it was time. But, what if he had stayed? What _if_? Perhaps, time would have made him brave, and he might have said those things that they both already knew.

But time is a funny thing. And change is the only constant thing. If Turlough has learnt anything, it's this.

*

And now, here they are. Here, in another time, in another place. And once again, he looks at this man with a box. His face is different, and so are his clothes. He looks older, tired and battle-worn. He doesn't know him, but at the same time, he does. He is the same, somewhere underneath. Perhaps it's his eyes. Or his hands. Or the way he says hello. Yes, he _knows_ him. He knows.

Perhaps it's the night. But for a while, they can talk and remember and say all these things. They can set free all these words and wishes, to travel across time and space. They can think about the universe and how big it is. And how good its people are sometimes. How brilliant.

The Doctor says goodbye again, and he leaves. But he might come back, with another different face. Why not? He travels across the stars, but sometimes he needs to stop and look at them, _really_ look at them, even if it's only for a moment. Yes, time is a funny thing. It can change. It can stand still and be _here_ , along with all the infinity of space. It's a constant thing. It always is.


End file.
